Gracie's Half Birthday

The Newbry family has a long standing tradition of celebrating a child's 6 month birthday. I for one am all for the tradition. I mean really, who doesn't love an excuse to have a party. OK, the real reason for having a 6 0month party is because so much happens during those first 6 months of life and we feel it's something to celebrate. I mean think about it. When babies are born they are these tiny little things who just lie there. They eat, cry, and sleep a lot. Don't get me wrong, I love new babies, but they don't do much. By the time they're 6 months old they can smile and laugh, they're sitting up (or almost sitting up), some may be crawling, some may have teeth, they babble and interact with others. A lot happens in that short 6 month period. So we had a party. Just a small party, but a party none the less.

Normally when we have a 6 month party it's just the family, but this year we decided to include our favorite family, the Gulicks. They are taking care of our house while we're on the cruise and they want to borrow our snorkel gear for their cruise which is one week after we get back, so we had them come over on Monday night to have a half birthday party/try the snorkel gear on/instructions for the house/FHE night. It was great.

Gracie got a fun little ball that she absolutely loves. It makes sounds and lights up(of course, what toy in this world of today doesn't make noise and/or light up) and it moves around on it's own. It keeps her very entertained. The older kids like it as well. It was hard to get them to let Gracie play with it. She also got some simple put together toys that also make sound and light up.

Gracie's cake was very different than the other birthday cakes we've had recently. We often do cupcakes for 1/2 birthday's because they're the perfect size for a little one. Believe it or not she didn't know what to do with the candle. Luckily she didn't try to grab it and Ben and Sarah Kate helped her blow it out after we sang.

She may not have known what to do with the candle, but she had no problem figuring out what to do with the cupcake. With all the other kids we had to put some frosting on our finger and feed it to them before the would try the cupcake and then they just kind of make a mess with it. Grace didn't need the help. She went to town.

As you can see she still made a mess, but she actually ate quite a bit of it. It was a good night and we are so glad she's a big happy, healthy 6 month old. I can't imagine my life or family without her. She a very happy smiley baby who loves her big sisters and brother. Overall she's just a joy. We are so grateful to have Gracie as part of our family.